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Officials decide to demolish building inside streambed in Black Sea town
Officials decide to demolish building inside streambed in Black Sea town
A seven-story apartment building that stands inside a streambed in northern Turkey will be demolished, Turkish authorities have decided. Click through for the story in photos...
The odd building in the Black Sea province of Rize’s Muradiye country came under spotlight during flash floods that hit the region last month.
It was later reported by local media that a three-story building was built in the same spot 15 years ago, but its owners illegally added new floors in the past decade. Nihat Yazıcı, one of the owners, said there was not an adequate plot of land in the region where construction was permitted, so they “had to build it there.”
As a final attempt to save the building, the owners filed an application for “property amnesty” declared by the government before the June 24 elections, which allowed the legalization of illegal construction by paying off penalties. The Environment and Urban Planning Ministry rejected the application this week and decided to demolish the building and expropriate its land by paying for its full value.
“We will start a new life in the city with my six brothers. We will choose a spot where there is no rain or floods,” Yazıcı said. Murady county was hit by torrential rains last month. “God help, we are sinking,” Mayor Musa Süreyya Balcı had said in a tweet on Aug. 2.
The flooding of a river in the area last month submerged the nearby towns in Muradiye and Salarha.
Turkey’s Disaster and Emergency Management Agency (AFAD) dispatched teams, while heavy duty vehicles from the provincial center of Rize were sent to Muradiye to help cope with the flood.
Click through for more photos of the flood...
The flooding of a river in the area last month submerged the nearby towns in Muradiye and Salarha.
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